Animals!!!

Lucky for me it's a leap year! You see, I'm really trying to keep at least 2 posts a month going. It isn't a lot I know. I should probably be posting at least weekly but I haven't been finding a lot to get good pics of for posting lately. I need to do more photo walks and grab my sleek, conveniently discreet camera bag as I'm heading out the door more often. You can't take pictures if you don't have your camera!

Today I'll be talking about my limited but expanding exposure to wildlife photography. Yes, our poodle is wildlife. If you've met him you already know this.



I make it a point to attempt to compose pictures. In the age of digital it's easy to fire away with your camera and hope a tenth of the shots are keepers. But the more I learn the more I want to be confident that the picture I just took is going to be amazing. That way I'm not disappointed when I get home from a trip whether it's downtown or around the world. Unfortunately when it comes to animals it's difficult to compose. You're at the mercy of their whims. The biggest things you can do is be prepared.

A few weeks ago Denver got some pretty good snow. My wife loves tossing our 11 pound toy poodle into 11 inch snow drifts and the dog doesn't seem to hate it so it isn't really cruelty.


I was crouched and ready to go long before he hit the snow. I tested exposure because I knew I wanted a small aperture for a longer depth of field and the snow reflecting the sun could contribute to blow out. Because I was prepared I was able to capture this great shake and a few little flecks of snow flying off in the process.

Of course there is going to be some element of burst shots. This is one of maybe 7 shots within a couple of seconds.


Below is another example of composing and bursting at the same time.


I was in Scotland and we had just gone rabbit hawking with a couple of Harris Hawks named Pepper and Saunders. After the hunt I wanted a few "posed" shots of Pepper with the blood on her beak from the last kill of the day. I composed as best I could. Focused on her eyes so they would be tack sharp and widened the aperture to make the background as blurred as possible enhancing the subject. Of course I had to be ready for when she decided to turn just the right way so I squeezed a few shots in succession and managed to grab my favorite.



I wish I had left the depth of field a little longer so the beak would be more in focus at its tip. I'm still extremely happy with this shot and hope to get it framed and on our travel wall soon.

Concert Photography

My wife and I had the amazing fortune to be at Ingrid Michaelson's Denver pop up show at the Walnut Room on January 30th. I debated bringing the camera questioning if photography, especially a DSLR, would be permitted. I was surprised to be met with a big shrug at the door and as you can see from some of the shots below I'm happy I had it along. I used my Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens since I knew I would be needing as wide of an aperture as possible. I still had to have my ISO set at 1000 to 1600.

She started off with a little chat before playing and it was during this time that someone from the audience gave her a gift. You can't see them in the pics but they were cute felt ukulele pics the audience member found on Etsy.



This first shot of the night made me think back to the concert related photo blogs I'd read. They all mention how red is some of the hardest lighting to photograph though while at the same time it is the favorite lighting for so many concert lighting techs. Throughout the night I attempted shooting with less and less exposure trying to get images as sharp as possible with the idea of boosting exposure in Lightroom. Unfortunately red lighting is completely unforgiving. You have to get your exposure spot on in camera.

Thank goodness the red wasn't the only lighting option that night. My "green" shots were some of my sharpest and I was able to boost exposures when needed slightly.









We were standing about 10 feet away from where Ingrid Michaelson was most of the show but right in front of her backup singer, Allie Moss.



Being close helped to get some more crisp shots as well as fill the frame and really work with composition instead of just getting a shot.



Now...back to red!